Blind
by Tai Ping
Summary: Plot Bunny Exchange:"One must picture a person’s face to kill them using the Death Note. Then, it could be presumed, that it was very fortunate or perhaps unfortunate that Yagami Raito was born blind." - Nilah Oneshot no longer!
1. An intro to why this sucks

Intro Notes/Authors Notes:

Okay finally fixed everything, got all the chapters back in order and got Chapter 12 posted up. (Ki-Rice'd grrr…)

8*8*8 Works as a section break for me, so that marks the parts in the story be is scene change or where the A/N are going to cut in

I re-wrote a few sections but it's hardly noticeable from the original, mostly did a bit of a spell check (although I know I didn't catch it all) and removed most of the A/N so it would be less confusing. So it's not a total re-write, I just had to go through and change my line breaks.

Thanks for all the patience and reviews while I figured this stuff out. I should be updating a bit over my summer vacation (9 more days, 9 more days)

I might re-write chapter 12… I'm not sure how I feel about it at the moment.


	2. Chapter 1

Sorry everyone. My Mac and FanFic dot Net have been fighting lately and it's messed everything up. I'm editing as fast as I can to fix it all and get it back on the air. (X_X)

(But DAMN this is like the 4th time I've had to do this.)

8*8*8

Raito never understood his sister that much. Why from a very young age she would crawl into bed with him when their parents had refused her entry into their bedroom. Why the trip simply from her room to his was enough to cause her skin to become moist with terror due to the darkness of the hall between their rooms. After all, even with Sayu's smaller legs it was only 3.5 adult strides and 7 tiny Sayu steps directly from her bed to his room.

But the dark was something that had bothered her, this intangible absence of light, this thing found behind closed eyes, drawn curtains and night was something that for reasons that baffled Raito frightened his little sister half to death.

Raito had, for his entire life lived in this darkness. Day, Night, eyes wide open or closed tightly shut made no difference to his existence, gave no insight to the world around him.

But unlike Sayu who could experience the light of the world, and could not uncover the mysteries of the night, Raito had never been exposed to the light, had never experienced the day. Raito had been born without the ability to see.

Raito knew unlike some blind people his eyes were perfectly formed and intact. According to his mother they were a beautiful honey brown, although the description was quite lost on him. But it seemed a nice colour as honey was nice tasting and the curtains downstairs were soft feeling and he had been informed they too were brown. His eyes were sweet and soft, unlike the eyes of others who could not see, he was told sometimes their eyes were blank. W\Some were white like curdled milk, sour and vile or vapid blue like glass, cold and hard, most were unfocused and unseeing. Or they simply looked wrong, not looking in the right direction for the noise they were focused on, unmoving in their sockets.

People often had trouble believing he was blind, especially upon meeting him on territory he was familiar with. He rarely walked with his cane, it made him feel as though he was useless, it made people talk about him as though he was an invalid. He was blind, not deaf, not retarded, just unable to see. The rest of his abilities, especially the most important such as his ability to think, were all functioning normally if not even better then normal.

From a young age he had trained himself to follow noises with his unseeing eyes so people would feel he was looking at them, to read ink on a page with his sensitive fingers so as not to rely on brail or people reading letters to him, he trained is other senses to not only make up for his lack of sight but give him a perception that he felt was even better then sight. The dark that he existed in was not something to be afraid of, but something to concur, and that was something that Raito simply did.

So when walking home from school he almost fell because he slid on some stupid piece of garbage he felt for the first time in a long time he could understand a little of his sisters long past fear of being unable to see the hazards in life.

"The hell..." Raito muttered under his breath "looking around" with his ears to listen for anyone who may have caught his moment of clumsiness. Hearing no "is he okay" or "ha ha" around Raito leaned down and felt around his shoes to find the offending trash and prevent a secondary occurrence.

'Wet, wet, wet hard and thick? Stupid people leaving their stupid books.' he thought to himself retrieving the notebook from the ground. Giving it a shake to remove some of the water from the rain off of it he brushed a hand across the cover to gather how much damage it had received from the moisture and him stepping on it.

It was a pleasant surprise to find the book shockingly in an exceptional state. Even with the beating it was firm and undented.

'Good quality book' he thought continuing on his path.

10 steps to the pavement, direct towards sounds of traffic 15 paces, hit yellow dented line turn left , 42 paces, listen for signal sound, listen for cars, 5 paces relocate sidewalk line, enter station 10 paces to ticket gate, Suica has 6 more charges, 5 now, turn right, 6 paces and 12 steps. turn left wait for train.

Raito unlike most people loved the rain, he loved carrying an umbrella, for many other blind people it was a hinderance, one more thing to carry taking up their only free hand. For Raito who adamantly refused to carry his white and red cane it was an excuse to be a little lazy, many people tapped their umbrellas, the noise assisted him in judging the distance between him and them, and gave him an excuse to do the same on stairs. Enabling him to explore the areas away from the yellow lines on many sidewalks in Japan made explicitly for people like him. Those lines made him feel weak and he didn't like using them, although they made walking without his cane much easier.

Sitting on the train Raitos fingers danced over the cover of the book. Tracing the slight difference in texture over the cover telling him someone had written on the books face.

'Ro? Yo?... this isn't kanji...D? English? Hmmm Death Note?' Raito ran his palm over the cover, checking the words again, 'Death Note? Seriously? God what kind of freeky kids book did I pick up.'

Flipping open the book he felt along the pages hoping for a name written down, but the pages were pristine and unused.

'Maybe it's the companies name... Still perfectly good notebook' Raito thought to himself sliding the book into his bag.

8*8*8

3 days later

8*8*8

"Hyuk hyuk hyuk"

Raito leapt from his seat knocking is chair over, all his senses scanning his bedroom trying to find the source of the sudden and strange laughter.

"My notebook is going to run out of pages if you keep writing in it at that pace, I don't think I've seen a human use it that much."

"W-Who are you? What's going on" Raito called out staring at the voice, willing his eyes to function for once so he could locate his assailant. He could hear the person but this was the first time Raito actually felt blind. He could hear them but that was it, although the voice was close he couldn't feel the intruders body heat, couldn't smell their sweat or shampoo, and couldn't hear his floor creaking even ever so slightly under the pressure of the weight of another person.

"So who have you killed?" continued the scratchy, disembodied voice. Raito backed up a little hearing the voice come closer, sensing some kind of movement in the back of his mind where one could imagined his "Sixth" sense was.

"K-killed?" Raito stammered only seconds before the voice launched into a bigger laughing fit.

"HYUK HYUK HYUK Printed media HYUK and the HYUK HYUK 21st century! HYUK HYUK HYUK This is too much!" gasped the voice somewhere around the level of Raito's waist. "OH you are an interesting human, to use the Death Note for...

Hyuk hyuk hyuk NOTES!"

"W-what else would I use a notebook for?" Raito started, fear all but gone and quickly replaced by anger.

"Didn't you read the instructions?"

Raito blinked.

"On the inside cover?"

"I... never noticed any instructions." Raito admitted, not having given the Notebook much thought past "sweet free book" and a small debate on what to place IN the offending book.

"Never noticed? What are you blind they're clear as day"

Raito always hated that expression.

"I am blind"

There was a long pause that began to unnerve Raito as the room still felt empty to him.

"Seriously?"

"Yes"

The voice erupted into a laughter that Raito had to plug his Ipod in on loud to block it out as it lasted the rest of the night.

8*8*8

Thank you to DementedHinkypunk who actually knows someone that's blind and so was able to point out some of the glaring mistakes in this.


	3. Chapter 2

Alright then, Due to popular request Bind part 2

Authors Notes:

Don't own, don't tell, don't sue. Although I believe the original creators started their career out with Doujinshi so hopefully they won't have any problem with it.

Because originally I had only planned out the one chapter the rest of the story might not be as interesting/witty/well written because while my heart is in it. I'm not researching and you can't make me.

Although I'm more then willing to change things I make mistakes on so please correct anything I get wrong.

8*8*8

Blind Chapter 2

8*8*8

Upon meeting Ryuk, Raito decided it was for the best that he stop using the note altogether. While he technically couldn't activate the darker powers of the note he still worried that he might accidentally kill someone. He had vague ideas of what certain people looked like, he would hate to be writing down something in his current history class and have an accurate flash of what the prime minister of Canada looked like and thus cause the guy to kick the bucket.

Ryuk on the other hand was easily amused. Raitos everyday existence was enough to tickle the disembodied voice pink, from Raito sticking his fingers into his morning cup of milk to make sure he didn't spill it, to tripping over his sisters textbook because she left it on the floor in their living room the Shinigami found everything Raito did hilarious. And on the occasion he didn't, his new game was to hover behind Raito and mess with his ability to sense things around him by making loud noises which only Raito could hear. Causing the poor haunted teen to jump for apparently no reason, to turn and look at things that were not there, or to constantly have a face of extreme, teeth gritting, aggravation for seemingly no reason. His Mother began putting daily cookies or treats in his lunch in hopes that a little baking would sooth Raito for whatever was setting him off, and Sayu was just avoiding him altogether.

After nearly a month of being haunted Raito was thinking of burning the note in hopes that it would rid him of the pest.

"Ryuk" Raito finally gathered up the gall to ask. "What would happen if I got rid of the notebook?"

"Oh?...Why would you want to do that?" Ryuk replied. He knew how much humans loved having power, Raito having the power but being unable to use it was a celestial joke Ryuk would be telling for centuries. But even unusable power was still power, why else would America have enough Nukes to blow up the world three times over?

"Because, you're very annoying and there's nothing benefiting me from having it, and my parents are going to lock me up for being crazy if I have to deal with you much longer." Raito bit out candidly.

Ryuk laughed long and hard at Raitos blunt honesty. Not many had the gonads to look a Shinigami in the face and call them a pain in the ass. Then again, Raito couldn't see the Shinigami he was looking at so his bravery might not count for much.

"Well, hyuk hyuk... You'd die."

Raito froze, shocked at the reply.

"If I lose the book... I die?" He squeaked out.

"No, If you lose it and can't get it back, or give it up to someone else, you just lose your memory. But I'm going to put your name in my own Death Note eventually, thats the deal with this note. I get bored or if it looks like you're going to die, I kill you and go home."

"When you get BORED?" Raito exploded before slapping a hand over his own mouth and listening intently for his family who was watching TV downstairs. "What am I your toy?" He finished just as furious but much more quiet.

"Yup." Ryuk said simply. "Pretty much. Cant have you tellin' people 'bout me. And the Shinigami realm is so boring. That's the whole reason I dropped the note in the first place." He continued to explain after seeing Raito sputter incoherently for a few moments.

"So I can entertain you."

"Uh-huh!"

"But I can't even use the note!" Whined Raito in an attempt to plead for his life. He couldn't live with Ryuk forever, but he certainly didn't want to die.

"Well you could if you would just make the trade."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh? I didn't tell you earlier? I thought I did, guess I just thought your predicament was too funny to mention this but I can give you a pair of Shinigami eyes so you can see."

Raito shook his head not believing a word he was hearing. "You can what?"

"Yea, you'll be able to see great with Shinigami eyes, you'll even be able to see everyones name and how long they have left to live. I can give them to you in exchange for half your life."

If Raito was not already sitting at his desk the news would have caused him to fall into his seat. He slumped back in his chair grabbing the side of his head which was pounding with thoughts and annoyance in general.

"Vision, all for the low price of my eternal soul..." He murmured to himself.

"No, I don't deal in souls. I said half your life-span."

"How much is that exactly?"

"Oh about.. Hyuk Hyuk... Well I'm not 'loud to say exactly, but if you have 2 more years to live, I get one and you'll die in one year. But if you live to be 100 then you've still got 40 more years left. That's lots of time."

Raito went quiet. To be able to see was something that was only a miraculous ideal for him, he had made his peace years and year ago that he would never be perfect, that he would always be stuck in the dark. He never even imagined the possibility that the option would be open to him.

But for half his life?

It was scary, it was like getting cancer or something. Everyone dies but to have the knowledge that your death was coming sooner then it could be. To be reminded of that clock that was always ticking above everyones head, to even be able to SEE the clock above other peoples heads. Raito wasn't sure.

Ryuk though had unintentionally made a good point that was niggling at Raito. Japanese people lived for a long time, his grandparents were all still alive, one in her 90's, another was already 102 years old. His parents were well into their late 40's and early 50's and still looked and acted like they were in their twenties. He had a good chance of living until he was very very old. Even if he did make the trade he'd be into his 60's before he had to truly worry that his time might be up. Old enough to lead a good life, possibly even see his grandchildren, only now he'd actually SEE them instead of being a doddering old man barely capable of caring for himself.

"I..." Raito started, he wanted to ask questions, needed to talk, sort his thoughts but he just didn't know where to begin.

"I'll give you an apple to leave me alone. I need to think, I need..."

"72 hours..." He said coldly, allowing his analytical side to push away his turmoil of emotions. "In 72 hours I'll give you a decision regarding my eyes, but for now, I need you to go."

"Can I have two apples then?"

8*8*8

Well then that's that.

Chapter two, I know I know, no action and the next chapter is going to be boring as mud too, just as a forewarning the next 72 hours are just Raito talking to his family about what would happen if he could see again and what even if he stayed blind would he do with his life. So don't get too excited for it.


	4. Chapter 3

8*8*8

Chapter 3 - Blind

8*8*8

This wasn't a decision that Raito could make lightly, it was half his remaining life for the opportunity to see. An unknown wager for an unknown prize.

Ryuk had assured him that since he had not used the death note, that he would be given the same opportunities as any other human upon his death. But that was still an unknown end at some unknown time, but he assumed it was better then being stuck in limbo for eternity.

It made Raito glad his family was a regular Japanese family, Shinto for weddings and Buddhist for funerals and Christian just enough to get something for Christmas. The amount he had been thinking about death gods, the afterlife and the spiritual world over the last few days was starting to give him these weird out of body feelings that made him feel somewhere between enlightened and just plain creeped out.

He had 4 hours left of silence from Ryuk before he had to decided to take the eyes or not.

"Mom..." He started over dinner chewing on the tip of his chopstick for a moment, a bad dinner time habit his mother had never really been able to get him to stop.

"What if... I could see?"

"What do you mean dear?" She asked, Raito could hear her rice bowl gently return to the table as she offered him her full attention.

"Well, I was listening to this program talking about a man who had robotic eyes, he can't really see, but he can make out things like lights and sometimes people in front of them. He was completely blind before. Well, what if I got something like that done. Do you think the risks would be worth it?"

His mother gave it some thought, but not as much as Raito wanted.

"No" She said.

"I kinda agree Raito" Sayu cut in, he could hear her licking food out of her teeth before she continued. "If you're just going to be able to distinguish light from dark what's the point of risking your life for something like that. You're really not missing much, maybe if you could fully see it would be worth it..."

"Sayu." Raito's Mother cut in. "I'm saying no because Raito is fine the way he is. If there are any risks involved in getting a surgery, and there are always risks, I think it's better for Raito to not have anything done. Even if he were to gain full sight it won't truly change anything for him."

Raito didn't want to disagree with his Mother but, she could see, while losing your sight would be awful Raito never had it to begin with, so he knew gaining it was more vanity then anything in her opinion.

"But Mom, being able to see could save me. If a bus or something dangerous were to be coming after me, sight could save my life."

"Yea" Sayu piped in. "Besides, blind or not, we're all gonna kick the bucket sometime, might as well not have any regrets."

"SAYU!" his mother gasped. "That is not the kind of talk I want to hear out of you young lady. You two will live for a long time and I won't hear none of this sort of live life and die talk."

Raito gritted his teeth knowing his mother might get into a bit of a rant with his sister over this.

"Mom, I guess what I'm asking is which is better, to have a long life or a full life. Quantity or Quality?"

His mother drew in a breath as she thought. Raito felt a pang of guilt for having brought it up but he wanted to talk to someone that he respected over the issue.

"Quality"

Raito flinched over the intrusion of his father voice who had been half listening to the conversation. Raito rarely spoke with his father other then pleasantries. From a young age Raito had felt that his father was disappointed in him and thus regarded the man as a disappointment as well.

"It's better to have a good full life, to be able to live bravely and to the best of your ability then to live a long and cowardly life." His father explained, a crackly rustle coming from him as he folded up the newspaper he was reading during dinner.

"Raito... I think if you'd be happier with sight, if you think it is a noble cause that will enrich your life and the lives of those around you. Pursue it to the best of your ability."

Raito kept his head down in thought as his father thanked his mother for the meal and wandered out of the room. While an opinion he had not expected to get it was one that was weighing heavily on him.

His sister and mother gave their final two cents, his mother wanting him to be happy but wanting his life to be full and longer than hers at least.

His sister was a firm believer in "live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse." She had become a little morbid recently but he imagined it was just a phase that came with puberty. He had his own embarrassing closet of emo poetry skeletons so he wasn't about to comment.

His own lie about the man with the robotic eyes (while a true story) brought about more thought then any of his family's comments. If he was getting surgery his life would be cut in more than half as he'd be dealing with the possibility of his body rejecting his eyes at any time. Either rendering him blind again (best case) or dead (worst case)

Buying bags and bags of apples was well worth it to keep the shingami away and since death was something everyone had to go though it's not like this was a matter of if, simply when.

"Ryuk" He called out to the darkness as he heard the now familiar hiss of the Shinigami's laughter.

"I Decline."

"Well, it's your life. Guess this means you just got more of it. Hyuk hyuk"

8*8*8

THE END

8*8*8

Author: I'M KIDDING I'M KIDDING!"

8*8*8

"Ryuk" He called out to the darkness as he heard the now familiar hiss of the Shinigami's ever present laughter.

"I accept"

8*8*8

Sorry I had to. I thought it was funny that Raito might say no and then put us right back to Chapter one with a three chapter one shot.

Chapter four, Look for more boring character development, Meet the new Raito that can SEE! brush your teeth before going in because there's going to be enough sugar in the next one to give L a diabetic attack.


	5. Chapter 4

8*8*8

Blind Chapter 4

8*8*8

BAM

That's how Raito would have explained sight to someone. It was like getting an unexpected punch in the face.

Howling laughter filled his ears as he landed on the floor, the sudden hit of colours and images knocking him down.

"Nngghh" He moaned rubbing his tearing eyes with the heels of his hands.

It hurt.

He wasn't even quite sure HOW it hurt. It wasn't really pain like getting hit or a paper-cut was pain, not even a headache really. It was more like when the back of his throat got itchy, only a little more insistent, and tingly, and about three centimetres into the middle of his brain.

Keeping his eyes shut he crawled into his desk chair and grabbed a pencil from the jar he kept them in. Placing it directly in front of him he slowly opened his eyes.

Everything was... Well he couldn't really explain it. A strange burning linear haze on a less burning haze? He blinked owlishly, face inches from his desk trying to make the connection in his brain between this one tingling sensation that was making some part of his occipital lobe tick, and his knowledge that it was a pencil.

Reaching out he touched the pencil and his brain immediately dinged into action saying *IT'S A PENCIL!* but his eyes and that same item recognition in his head were not quite catching up.

He kept touching the pencil, forcing how he recognized it by touch to react how he could now see it. It looked strange to him, sort of, softer than he imagined it, less straight, and it kept moving. Getting slightly bigger and smaller, more fuzzy, less fuzzy. He could FEEL his retinas moving as they tried to focus.

He stopped blinking and focused on the pencil, making it become clear, imposing his will upon the universe to hold still and to let him see.

After a few minutes of staring at the top of his desk he felt confident in being able to recognize a pencil, paperclips, his hand and the deathnote.

And thanks to Ryuk, was able to distinguish himself from the Shinigami. Who felt it hilarious to show him a mirror and pretend that the image in it was the monster.

Raito didn't find it funny. He had an image of Ryuk based on how the monster described himself. Squishy fish eyes and slimy squid skin, prickly puppet felt hair and leather clothes. Looking in the mirror shocked him because Ryuk said that to humans he was very ugly. Looking at himself and thinking "Oh so this is Ugly" and then seeing the real Ryuk, he was at a bit of a loss.

"Am I ugly?" He finally broke down and asked Ryuk once the Shinigami got over his giggles.

"I dunno, humans all look the same to me."

Raito had to think on that. In his mind Ryuk was ugly, but to his eyes he didn't seem all that scary (but then again Raito had very little visual stimulus to base "Scary" on, he certainly didn't look like a pencil or paperclip, although his clothing and hair was like the deathnote which considering what it could do, must be terrifying to behold.)

Raito's mother said he was handsome, but her opinion didn't matter. Only one girl at school ever confessed affection towards him, and while they dated she said he was very attractive and that her friends were all envious she had such a cute boyfriend. But she broke up with him after a time, it didn't bother him because she was boring as a bag of nails and couldn't describe something to save her life. But looking back he wondered, was it his disability, or his looks that kept people away.

Or the fact that he could be a bit of a cynical ass.

He wasn't about to say that wasn't the case either.

Closing his Shinigami eyes (which was also a weird experience to realize that it was like he had an extra pair of eyelids to which "opened" his sight, he imagined that it was like wearing contacts) he closed his regular unseeing eyes and rubbed them. A proper ache was developing in his eyes and skull as his eyes were forced to strain and focus, something they have never done before. He wondered if it was possible to pull a muscle in your eyes.

Falling back into the comfortable dark he made his way to the kitchen to find some kind of pain killer.

"You okay honey?" His mother inquired as he was going through the medicine cabinet. He could hear the rustle of the newspaper as she looked up from it, doing her daily puzzles before she went to bed.

"Yea just a headache. Is this medicine for it?" He said holding up a box. He could recognize the pills by touch but would have to open up the box to know for sure.

"No that's for your sisters allergies, the other one, you got it." She directed while still coming towards him to feel his forehead for a fever. "Were you studying?"

"Yea, gotta get ready for entrance exams. Even if I go to an American university I still don't want to be slacking off in my last year of high school."

"Well maybe you should go to bed if you're not feeling well. Is your homework done?"

"Yes Mom..." he drawled.

"No tests?" she pressed, he could hear the smile in her voice.

"No Mooaaarrgh.." He cried.

He had foolishly peeked open his Shinigami eyes for a moment in an attempt to see his mother. The much brighter light from the kitchen stabbed into his face like burning daggers. He had forgotten that seeing things in his room would be different from seeing things outside, as he never bothered to turn on the damn lights in his room. Of course everything else would be more intense to his fragile new eyes.

"Raito are you okay?" His mother said, her voice peaking in anxiety as he leaned back to brace himself on the counter and wipe the tears leaking from his regular unseeing eyes.

"Fine.." His hissed out. "It just hit me a bit harder there. More shock then pain."

He could hear his mothers jaw creak gently as she clenched her teeth a little in concern.

"You go to bed now. If you're not feeling well in the morning I'll call the school for you."

"Okay"

"And I'm going to check on you later to make sure you're not reading in bed."

"Yes Mom..."

"I won't have you getting sick."

He made a noise in the back of his throat and ducked expertly as she playfully made a swing at his head.

"Night" he called to her from the top of the stairs ignoring the "AWWWWW" coming from the shinigami peanut gallery.

8*8*8

Raito had a newfound respect for babies. He could sympathize with their plight, coming into this confusing world with new eyes, ears and nose. Bombarded by crazy bright lights, noises and smells. It was a small wonder they only screamed once in a while as opposed to all the time.

Raito knew with even an ounce of less self control he would be chronically pitching a fit while trying to adjust to the seeing world.

And he knew even though he wasn't bawling his now seeing eyes out, his family was starting to suspect something.

He knew his sister was imagining something morbid, like a brain tumor.

His mother was probably right there with her on some "Medical mystery that is killing my son"

His Dad probably thought he was on drugs.

The morning after gaining sight Raito woke up extra early, he practiced seeing for a while, transferring touch knowledge into sight knowledge. He knew to take it slow, he knew it. But it was hard not to get cocky, he felt like he was reborn, like a God to go from blind to seeing. So of course he figured walking with his eyes open would be simple, and of course he would have to completely misjudge the angle and walk right into his open bedroom door, and of course Ryuk had to be standing right there to add insult to injury by laughing himself so hard he couldn't even follow Raito to school.

And of course everyone had to ask how the generally pleasant Raito had gotten himself one hell of a shiner.

By the end of the day he had given up telling people he lost a fight with a door, (because as mean as it was to laugh at the blind kid walking into things, people still did it) and the new story was he got into a scrap with an Amish Yakuza in a park who was offended over the fancy technology of a collapsable cane.

A few days later when he tried again he was able to make it past the door, only to pitch himself down the stairs.

The story went from one Amish Yakuza to three Amish NINJA Yakuza.

Canning himself on the gate in front of his house a few week later was just the icing on his cake of pain.

His Mom finally dragged him into the doctor concerned over his utter lack of balance and chronic headaches. But since there was really nothing physically wrong with him (one insistent MRI later courtesy of his Dads really awesome heath insurance policy) it was fortunately attributed to stress.

Raito was then pulled out of two of his cram schools which he didn't need to be in for university, giving him the extra time he did need to practice depth perception to stop careening into things, thus pleasing all parties involved in concerns over his heath.

Raito's father still thought he was on drugs.

It was one of the most difficult things in his life not to giggle hysterically at being able to see everything. That and suppressing the strangest urge to lick things.

His second trip down the stairs the glean of the banister made him want to taste it, to fully feel all 5 senses working in the world. To fully know what this strange shiny was.

He placed a hand on the rail trying to hold himself back, his dad had already caught him putting a button in his mouth the same day he fell down the stairs.

"Raito are you okay?" His mother said noticing how her son had stopped on the stairs and was staring intently at the banister.

Raito closed his eyes and turned his head in his mother direction, shutting off his new sense so as not to make her even more suspicious than she already was that something was wrong with him.

"I'm fine Mom, just thinking."

He heard his mothers hair rustle against her neck gently as it always did when she was a bit worried about him but didn't want to say anything.

"Mom..." Raito called out hesitantly as he heard her turn back to the kitchen.

"Hmm?"

"Can I... Can I see you?"He said, turning his head to the ground. "I've kind of forgotten what you look like" He continued hurriedly when he heard her breath in a little strangely.

"Of course dear," She replied coming closer to him so his hands could gently touch her face. "You haven't done this since you were 10"

Raito didn't say anything as he traced over her face with his hands, 'looking' at her in the light of his minds eye. Opening his new eyes he saw for the first time the face that he already knew so well. Soft cheeks with small smile lines around the mouth, her eyes small and perfectly balanced above her small round nose. Raito noticed that she painted her eyebrows on darker and gently touched the makeup. Wide smooth brow and thin smiling lips.

Raito felt tears pricking at his eyes.

"I forgot.." He said gently holding his mothers face in his hands. "I forgot how beautiful you were."

His mother blushed and Raito could feel the heat on his hand and see the color on her cheeks.

"Oh you!" she said placing her hand over her sons. "Ever the charmer."

Raito released her and she gave him a hug, tucking perfectly under his chin making him feel protective of this woman who had been his shield for so long.

"Want to help me make cookies?" She said sniffing and breaking away.

"Yea Mom, I would."

His mom had tittered around him thinking his sudden attachment to her and his interest in baking (finally he could sanely put random things in his mouth) was sweet.

His father came in later and went into his office muttering "kids these days and their goddamn pot"

8*8*8


	6. Chapter 5

I've noticed, and tried to correct but can't always catch it, that FF dot net randomly removes things from my story.

(*EDIT: which I am angrily dealing with now.. FFFFUUUUUU)

Punctuation... words... spaces... specifically those little star things you get when you hit shift : on a MAC computer.

that's also why I had to re-upload friggen everything.

(Edit: For the FOURTH fucking time.)

THIS IS MY HAYTE AND RAGE FEELZ IT!

(EDIT: TIMES LIKE ELEVENTY)

8*8*8

Blind Chapter 5

8*8*8

"Hurry up Sachiko." Raito's father called back to his mother.

As childish as it was she was visibly dragging her feet getting off the train at the airport.

"Are you sure you want to go to America Raito?" She asked as he tapped back towards her to take her arm (in a secret attempt to hurry her along)

Raito's head slumped to the side, this was an argument that had been having for a while now, and even though the tickets were bought and classes payed for she was still trying to get him to stay.

"Yes Mom, I am fully prepared and ready and *Excited* to go to New school has some of the best programs for people like me." -and is a big enough city to get lost in- he thought to himself

He could hear his mothers face bunch up in her 'I'm not pouting because I'm too old for that but I am totally pouting' face.

Raito sighed and kissed the top of her head before breaking away from her as his sister announced they were at the train ticket gate.

"Hello Mr. Yagami! I'm Ohaba Tsugumi and I'll be assisting you on your flight today!"

-Oh christ- Thought Raito.

He knew his parents would have had to arrange some kind of assistance for him on the flight, but he didn't realize they'd be dropping him off with a flight attendant like a 5 year old on their first plane trip.

He faced the general direction of the voice and bowed carefully (having once before collided with another persons head having been unable to properly judge the distance and bowing with too much enthusiasm. But he was like 5 at the time.)

Exchanging pleasantries with the flight attendant he was able to drag himself away from his family and follow her to the international gates.

Getting on the plane and taking his seat he pulled out his schools brochure. He read over the information for the teaching and law programs again and skimmed over the one on computer science.

He had just been starting to experiment on the computers at the Hibiya Library and he found it kind of interesting. Hard as hell to focus on the damn thing but the information that was available on computers was mind boggling and he was fascinated to learn everything he possibly could about them.

His Father was quietly pushing him towards Law, and the part of Raito that wanted to please him also wanted to go there too.

Become a lawyer, help the old man put away criminals. That sort of thing, but in Japan prosecution seemed at least to him an easy job and most people in it were lazy. With a 99% conviction rate either he would have to become a hard ass prosecutor that tried EVERYONE or become a really seedy defence lawyer in order to make any money at all.

His mother was pushing him to become a teacher, which he didn't mind the idea, special needs teachers were in much demand in Japan and his skills and sympathy would be valued. The major downside was he didn't like children, until a child could think for themselves he hardly wanted anything to do with them, and even then he could barely stand most of his classmates who were the same age as him, he really couldn't imagine having to control 40 of them on a regular basis.

Painting? Cooking? Photography?

Raito opened his *eyes* and looked around to make sure Ohaba was not hanging around him before sneaking out the brochure to the community collage that he was REALLY going to. They had interesting and fun classes in everything.

Maybe he'd join the tennis class. He was never really allowed to play any of the fun sports in school, just the weight training and he had to stay in the shallow end of the swimming pool in summer.

As the plane began it's rumble to take off on the 15 hour journey that would take him to freedom Raito could hardly keep from jumping up and dancing in the isle.

He was free, he could see and he was off to experience a while new world.

"Hyuk hyuk, think we'll get any apples as an in-flight snack Raito? How long is this trip again? Hey I'm bored, I'll tell you the name of the pilot if you wright it down in your Death Note. Hyuk Hyuk Hyuk that'd be interesting."

A whole new world with Ryuk...

Raito sighed miserably and put on his headphones to watch the movies. This was going to be a long 15 hours.


	7. Chapter 6

8*8*8

Blind Chapter 6

8*8*8

A lazy grin spread across Raito's face as he reached out and scratched his fuzzy balls for what had to have been the twentieth time that day. He couldn't get enough of them, their shape, their feel, their colour. Even if he was blind he should have played with them more often, but now that he could actually see them, he couldn't keep his hands off his balls.

Tennis balls were AWESOME.

Raito had the whole summer to prepare for University in the fall, It was well into May and his English was improving by leaps and bounds, he took classes every day at his normal university and in the afternoon took an art class at a small college across the city. In the evening he took a cooking class a few blocks away from his apartment.

He did have a dorm room at the school, but he secretly cancelled it and got the money back for it. He found himself a cheaper apartment, dropped out of enough classes to become a part time student and get the money back for that as well and was able to sign up for extra curricular activities without begging his parents for questionable amounts of money.

Hopefully, they wouldn't notice, and if they did, he's attribute it to stress and pray his mother wouldn't try to drag him home.

Although his schedule was crammed with classes he had a three day weekend and had no need, nor desire to study. A sublime luxury he was never given in Japan. Fortunately New York was a place for people with endless curiosity.

Granted after breaking a finger while learning to ride a bike...

And getting yet another black eye from trying to lean how to catch a ball...

And only god knows how many skinned knees from learning how to play tennis...

He was sticking pretty close to the museums and Libraries afterward.

But he still had a secret passion for tennis balls. And once he could hold a racket again he was totally going to show them who was boss.

Rolling the ball across his desk with a melancholy sigh he flipped over the newspaper his roommate had left out and read the headlines.

"MYSTERIOUS HEART ATTACKS CLAIM ANOTHER VICTIM, DEATH TOLL ESTIMATED AT 300 WORLDWIDE"

It was an odd headline as is, but when Ryuk began to titter at it with that laugh that he got when he knew something Raito became worried.

"Do you know anything about this?" He turned on the Shinigami.

"Hyuk hyuk, Maybe I do, couldn't say if I wanted to, but I'll give you a hint, when was the last time you read your rules?"

Raito stared at the Death God for a moment longer, not knowing what he was talking about.

"Rules? What Ru...Oooohhhh" It clicked, Raito opened his drawer and pulled out the secret bottom he made after emptying all the general crap he piled on top. He was worried, not as much about the newspaper but by the fact that he had gotten so used to Ryuk, he barely remembered there was a time without him.

6 months with the damn guy. Raito would get him an anniversary present if it wouldn't have been so goddamn creepy and depressing.

flipping the book open Raito read the rules for the second time, his face grew pale as he realized what Ryuk was probably so amused by.

"No... No way, there are MORE of you?" Raito yelled at the Death God.

"Yea."

"This can't be caused by another note, I mean someone has a heart attack every couple of seconds, it's just a coincidence."

"Maybe it is, Maybe not. Hyuk Hyuk, I still think it's interesting in any case. Strange especially that it's mostly happening in Japan. Hyuk Hyuk, hope your family will be okay."

"Of course they will!" Raito snapped, but he was a little concerned. The power to kill a person at will. Raito had avoided thinking about it, more concerned with his newfound ability to see and basically ignoring the situation surrounding it. But if someone else could do it.

"Did you drop another note?"

"No, if I did I'd have to follow them too."

"Oh" Raito felt relieved, Surly something else was happening, probably the influence of too much American food in the Japanese diet.

Looking at the McDonalds in his own trash can Raito slid the Death Note back into his drawer.

"I think I'll go on a diet and stop reading this depressing stuff. Stress and bad food, that's what will kill you."

"And Shinigami's" Interjected Ryuk.

Raito put in his headphones and ignored the Death God.

Tennis Balls and I-pods. All a man really needed.


	8. Chapter 7

8*8*8

Chapter 7

8*8*8

"You really need to call us more often, you know I worry." Raito's mother said over the phone.

Raito had been at school for about 2 months now and was experiencing his first New York summer, by July in Japan it was already pretty hot, August was still the hottest month but July was pretty bad already. New York was quite nice in comparison, more like spring, only 10 times more smoggy.

"Mom I call you like every week, and it's hard to get the times right. I don't want to be calling at 4 in the morning."

"You can call at 4, it's okay." His mother said.

Raito's acute hearing caught a "No it's not" in the background from his Father and Sister.

"So how is everything"

"Everything?"

Everything for Raito was going swimmingly, he was taking a cooking class, he had learned how to ride a bike, he sucked at art and scared the crap out of his teacher because he kept putting paint brushes in his mouth when he thought and Ryuk had developed a taste for pretty much anything Raito cooked (including his terrible terrible screw ups) which fortunately meant the Shinigami was too busy stuffing his face to bother Raito too much anymore.

"Things are good" Raito said breaking into his lies "I've signed up for the Law Courses but I'm still under general studies, I might still trade out to a teaching class, I'm not sure."

Truth be told he was secretly leaving all of those classes, he had very little intention of going back to Japan. Sure he'd visit his parents on occasion but he could see now and he wasn't going to give that up for appearances. After all, life was short and even more-so for him.

"How about you guys?"

"WELL!" started his mother clearly about to dish something terribly interesting. "I don't know how much news you're getting there but it's all over here, there's a secret organization or something that has been killing criminals."

"Really?" Raito replied, he had heard about this in the news, even though he didn't pay much attention to it in America. Ignorance was bliss.

"Yes, your father even joined up with some hush hush task for for it. Working twice as much as ever now, won't tell me anything about it, but your sister is following information about it on the internet. Apparently some hot shot detective named L is working on the case as well."

"How do you know all this?" Raito asked, rather shocked at the amount of interest his mother had vested into it.

"It was on TV the other day, all the stations made this special announcement that L was on the case, I heard the killings stopped for a while after but now they're going twice as hard. The news isn't allowed to report the deaths anymore, that's why your sister is interested in it online, oh, she's asking to talk to you."

"Hey Bro!"

"Hey Sis, you want to tell me about the case?"

"Well, just get your insight on it... No pun intended."

"Har har," Raito replied with an eye roll. "Describe it all to me."

"Well, it all started maybe sometime in April, no one knows when the first death really was but all over Japan in one day wanted criminals and guy waiting to stand trial and guys already in jail were being picked off. I mean.." she started in a bit of a whisper. "I don't want Dad to hear but most of these guys are rapists or those guys that make grabs at girls on the train, frankly I feel a bit safer knowing they aren't on the street anymore."

"Don't let Dad know but if criminals are getting picked off, whomever is doing it probably has the right of things."

"Nice to know someone in this house is on my side of it." She whispered back. "Anyway, some people around the world started to die of heart attacks too, on TV on like the 20th or 21st? Sometime last week, some guy named Robert Linderman was all over the stations, made some announcement that he was a super-detective and would catch Kira."

"Kira?"

"Yea that's what they're calling the organization."

"Like. Killer - Kira? The English word for 'someone who kills people'?"

"I dunno, I guess so. I thought it was a doughnut."

"That's a Cruller."

"Anyway, just before the broadcast was over the guy dropped dead and an L like the English letter L shows up on screen and announces that the dude we all saw die was just a stunt double or something and that L would catch whomever did it. It was kind of cool, but weird to know that the guy who died on TV REALLY died. Hey you said your roommate isn't blind? Get him to look it up on mixie for you, or maybe youtube, you can listen to it."

"Yea, I'll check it out. I haven't been paying attention to the news at all so this is kinda interesting, Dad say anything?"

"I didn't realize it was possible for the old guy to get even MORE tightlipped until now. Anyway Mom's giving me the homework eye."

"Hey just gotta pass those entrance exams and it's clear sailing from there. Unless you're an M and want to come to America with me, school here's tough."

"Blegh, I was debating Canada or Europe but my English sucks. Anyway talk to you later."

"Bye"

His Mom took over the phone and talked a little bit about the PTA and how fast everyone was growing up before he finally got her off the phone once again stretching the truth and telling her it was a lot later than it really was.

He looked over into the corner at Ryuk who's shoulders were shaking as he tried to stifle his laughs.

The shinigami knew something, and he wasn't sharing.

Raito yanked open his drawer and pulled out the fake bottom, checking intently that it was the same note that he had before. He couldn't imagine the chances of another Shinigami dropping a note, but considering the reasons behind his own Shinigami's actions who was he to say what others of his kind would do. He didn't even know for sure how many more were out there.

'How much should I concern myself with this...' Raito thought to himself closing his Shinigami eyes to turn his mind inward to think. 'On one hand, I've never used the note, I've got no reason to use the note, if this person gets caught it's no concern of mine.'

'On the other hand... God this is a terrible weapon to have.'

Senarios began to flash before his mind. All someone needed was the American presidents name and then get him to command the firing of nuclear arms before he died of a heart attack. Governments would mow down countries just to get ahold of a scrap of its paper. It was a power that no one should have, that HE shouldn't have but...

But this person was punishing the wrongdoers in the world. Was that so bad?

Raito tried not to admit it but he did believe in eugenics to a point. Racial eugenics was stupid of course, mixing genetic pools made for stronger offspring, killing off an entire pool was shooting yourself in the genetic foot. But when it came to people like criminals, especially in a world that already did not facilitate reform but instead half hearted punishment and an eternal loop of re-offence. A death sentence was often more of a blessing than a curse, both for the criminal and for the country having to house them.

'But then again... Why should I even care?'

Raito was just a normal school kid, his Dad wasn't that important his family had no real power or great finances, he would never be a target or suspect, they would never be a target or suspect, besides there was billions upon billions of people in the world. It would be impossible for him to figure out which one had a note just like him let alone be able to contact and help them.

Not getting involved would probably be the best option for everyone, after all, who was he to play judge and jury over anyone. If he ever met the person then maybe it was God or the Fates or somethings divine will that the world be changed, but until then he would just continue with his blissful ignorance.

8*8*8

The End.

8*8*8

...5 Minutes Later...

Raito looked down at the gamers magazine his roommate had left on the coffee table, on the cover was a strange looking blond Japanese girl and the title

"MISA-MISA COMES TO AMERA-MERICA, Jar jar Binks unavailable for comment"

Looking at her his breath caught in his throat.

"R-Ryuk... what does it mean if I can't see someone's lifespan but I can see their name."


	9. Chapter 8

I'm-a working I'm-a working.

School is SRSLY kicking my ass tho

**Oh and someone recommended that Matt should be Raito's roommate, I pondered the idea, but then looked up the DN timeline. Matt's only 14 at this time.**

8*8*8

Chapter 8

8*8*8

Raito had no idea what to do.

He convinced his roommate Ryan to take him with him to Big Apple Con, by offering to pay the price of the tickets. Misa-Misa was going to be appearing there and he planned to go see her but that was generally where his plan stopped.

What would he say?

"Hi My name is Raito, I'm from Japan too, by the way, have you been killing people with a magical notebook?"

Would he get her to stop? Would he join her on her quest?

He'd asked his roommate Ryan for information about the actress, after reading about her life, he could sympathize with her plight.

Her entire family had been killed one night and the killer was still going through trials a year later. It shockingly didn't look like they were going to get murder conviction for this one, just some assault and theft charges. But then at the end of March the killer died of a heart attack in custody.

Raito knew why.

He had back checked Japanese news for the last 2 months and was pretty sure that was the first 'DN victim,' from then on it seemed like more and more criminals were dying of heart attacks. Mostly in cases of assault or rape where the police convinced the victim to drop charges as opposed to going through with them. Raito could see how someone famous like Misa-Misa probably had her own brush ins with over zealous fans who didn't know when no meant no and could understand her desire for stricter punishments upon them.

"Man, I wish I knew you were into all this geek stuff before, here I've been hiding all my anime porn and you're just as much of a nerd as I am."

Raito barely understood what Ryan had just said so he smiled and nodded. On one hand he was glad his roommate was a bit of an anime nut. On the other hand it was annoying to have to sit through anime conversations with him. Raito still didn't watch TV since he regained his sight, but was starting to get into comic books which were a little unavailable to him in his youth.

"It makes me think of Tokyo here. So much people" Raito said trying to change the topic a little.

"Yea, I imagine, Big Apple Con gets a lot of people every year. You got your cellphone right? If you don't want to stick with me we can meet back at the car at like 4. I want to get out of here before everyone decides to go and we get the bad traffic."

Raito wanted to leave now but he had come this far.

"Sure, I meet you at 4."

'I'm going to find Misa-san, say... Something... And then get the hell out of here.' Raito told himself as he pushed in the opposite direction of Ryan trying to navigate himself to Misa's table. Raito however was debating staying longer since the bustle of all the people and the flashing lights of games and exhibits had distracted him to the point that he had actually floated off leaving Raito alone.

It took him a few tries to make it there, he couldn't really read a map by sight and in the end he ducked into a corner, put on his sunglasses and pulled out his cane and just asked someone to take him to her booth. It was one of the few perks of being blind in that most people felt really bad when you asked them for directions and they couldn't give you the regular visual clues to locate someplace.

Misa was wearing a dark purple Yukata with a lot of strange accessories and was chatting with her translator. Raito felt a little sorry for her as there were a few 'nerds' hovering close to her table, but none brave enough to dust off their piss poor Japanese to say a proper hello.

"Eeto... Sumimasen." Raito started after his guide dropped him off at the front of her booth.

Misa turned and gave him a brilliant smile before looking above his head and nearly choked on her own grin.

Raito flashed a perfect smile of his own.

"Hajimemashite Amane-san"

"Hajimemashite Yagami-san"

The translator looked back and fourth between the two of them in confusion. While they did say "For the first time" they also knew one another's names.

"Misa-san?" He started turning hesitently to the Idol. "Who is this?"

Misa gave her head a little shake and her smile widened into an almost genuine grin. "Oh My! Misa says silly things. First time in America but Long time no see for us right Yagami-kun?" She said (in Japanese), quickly giving Raito the 'Go with me on this' look.

"Ahh... I wasn't sure if it was really you until you spoke Amane-sempai, being blind and all," He obviously pointed out because while at that moment he could see, he was planning on keeping up the charade. "But I had heard you had come to America, how long has it been now? Two? Three years?" He lied with ease

"At least three Misa thinks, in High school?" She continued before turning her best puppy dog eyes on her translator. "Azami-san can Misa take a little break to talk to Yagami-kun? It has been so long and must be the divine bringing us together a country away from our home."

"Well... I don't know." Azami started looking around at the few people who were getting interested in the sudden exchange of Japanese.

"Oneigaaaaaiiiiii?"

"Fine, go.." Azami sighed in defeat. No wonder she was getting so popular so quickly the way she could wheedle and manipulate people.

Misa jumped up from the table and grabbed her purse before latching onto Raito. And leading him away.

"Are you really blind?" She whispered to him

"Yup." He said.

Raito had looked at Misa during the conversation but had since 'closed' his Shinigami eyes. He had no idea who might be watching her if anyone at all.

"Do you remember, back in highschool, when we exchanged notebooks?" She said. "We wrote diaries and were able to see each others hidden side. I wonder if you still have your notebook?"

Raito nodded, surprised that the teen idol was smart enough to keep up the 'we know each other from highschool' facade.

"Yes, I don't have it with me right now, it would be very embarrassing if someone picked it up and read what was inside."

He was tipping her off that he too wrote in the book, although it would be embarrassing if she read it since unlike her, he originally had no idea about the true nature of the book.

"Oh? I always thought your handwriting would be too poor to read?" She said giving his arm a squeeze as she pulled him outside. "I mean, because of your eyes and all."

"It might not have been perfect, but I... Remember it being better than your writing." Raito replied, informing her that yes, he could still use the note.

"Oh really?" She said excitedly, Raito felt a little awkward since she was now crushing his arm to her chest and he could totally feel her cleavage.

"Uhh... Yea." He stammered trying to keep from blushing as he realized these were the first boobs he'd ever really come in close contact with.

He veered off suddenly into a cafe muttering softly "get a table in the back." allowing Misa to take over and lead again. Fortunately due to the convention there were quite a few cos-players there so Misa's yukata wasn't all that strange.

It was noisy and busy but the back tables were spread out and most of them were dirty so no one wanted to sit on them. The front of the cafe was congested with convention goers trying to get their afternoon coffee's or Ice Lattes in oder to cool down in the heat of the day.

"Remember the Pen Pal program in Jr. High?" Raito pushed at Misa as they sat down.

"You still want to talk like that?" She said looking around.

Raito felt he was being paranoid, after all they were in a noisy cafe so no one would be able to hear them unless they were right next to them, or could read lips. But he didn't want to take any chances. A world famous detective had announced over a month ago his intention of capturing 'kira' who knows what kind of evidence he was able to get, Raito had no idea what kind of powers this guy had.

"Of course, we haven't really met face to face before, only ever in the letters. How would I know if you're the one I really sent them to or for you if I'm not just someone who read all those letters and is trying to trick you into trusting me."

Raito figured that one was a little off his target of 'That detective might be listening' but he hoped she got the general point.

The girl was actually a bit smarter than she looked as she gave a slow considering nod and discretely looked around the cafe behind him.

"Well I can trust you Yagami-kun, I can see it in your face that you're telling the truth. I have an eye for these kinds of things."

So she had the Shinigami eyes too! Raito was a bit surprised as he really saw no benefit for someone like her to have them. But who was he to judge.

The two continued talking in a vague code reminiscing about this "notebook" that they shared while giving one another tidbits of information about their lives so if questioned later they would know a little about one another. Misa then began to speak in earnest about her career and plans.

"I want to make the world a better place by being an Idol."

"Really?" Raito drawled between a sip of an "Iced Cap" they had gotten a few moments before.

"I know I look a little strange by it, but most of who I am isn't an act. I've gotten more... Cynical recently, but I try to be true to myself. I hope it will show through my acting and actions and influence more people to be better people, especially for women to stand up for themselves and fight back! I don't know, maybe I'm just being idealistic, sometimes... Well most of the time I just want to quit, get married and live a simple life."

"Why don't you?"

Misa gave him a bit of a quizzical look.

"I mean, I've been blind my whole life but thats never stopped me from obtaining my goals. I know it's sometimes confusing to be limited to one life, one body and very little power, but you don't have to change the world. Sometimes just a little change can be all you need."

Misa chewed on her straw while she thought about it.

"Yanno Raito-kun, do you mind if I call you by your given name? You seem like a really sweet guy. Just my type in fact" She said with a wink. "I just don't know. I've been given this power, this opportunity that millions of people would kill for. Wouldn't it be a waste if I just like threw it all away? I mean, maybe one day I will, but I just want to make my mark a little bit somehow. Yanno?"

Raito understood, both of the points she was making. Her fame gave her an opportunity to be in a spotlight, to directly influence people. The Deathnote she had gave her the opportunity to indirectly change the very course of history.

"Well, we'll have to keep in touch regarding all of this. I just want you to be careful thats all. I think you have a great ability and I hope that you'll use it wisely."

"Thanks Raito-kun!" She answered perkily. "Lemmi give you my number, we'll have to keep in touch even once I'm back in Japan right?"

She dug through her purse and ripped a scrap of paper out of an orange binder as well as a tiny edge of paper off the page behind it. She touched the edge to Raito's hand as she handed him her jotted down number.

Raito opened his Shinigami eyes and took a deep breath that was masking the sharp intake of shock as he saw a large white Shinigami leaning over Misa.

"Hello Yagami." The spectre said as it realized Raito could see it. "I agree with what you said but Misa is headstrong. I hope you two will get along."

Raito nodded and smiled back at Misa.

"We should both get back. But let's keep in better touch. And if you ever need a break or are ready to quit, let me know."

"Kay!" Misa said with a big grin.

Raito began making his way to the door followed by Misa when his cain hit someone standing directly in the doorway.

"Oh excuse me I didn't see you there." Came a deep voice with a bit of a British accent.

"Me too" Raito said with a smile waving a hand in front of his eyes and grinning to show he wasn't insulted. "Excuse us."

Waving goodbye to Misa at the door he head out to the direction he remembered Ryan had parked in. Hopefully Misa would be more cautious, hopefully she wouldn't get caught, hopefully she was right and would attain her goals. Both for the Note and for her life.

'Hopefully she wasn't just playing me and will write my name down afterward...' He suddenly realized with dread as he reached the car.

8*8*8

"Anything Ryuzaki?" Matsuda asked over his cellphone from down the street.

"I'm not sure, the person Amane-san was speaking to had his back to me the entire conversation so I could not see what he said. However I am suspicious that my earlier assumption was wrong and possibly this "Kira" is not a single entity but is indeed an organization. This entire meeting was too conveniant..." L said as he exited the cafe with an Iced Cap and a brownie. Being the only one of the group who could read lips and not look odd in a cafe full of teenagers and anime freaks he was forced to place himself in the crosshairs of the suspect in order to gain evidence.

"When I get back to base I want us to find out everything we can on one Raito Yagami." He said over the broadcast. "He looks familiar to me."

"He should." Came the horse voice of Sochiro Yagami. "He's my son."

8*8*8

DUN DUN DUUUUUUNNNNNNN.

I feel like I should put a little explanation into Misa's character here since I've gone quite OOC for her, but possibly a little closer to how the original creators had her.

Misa has made the decision to start killing on her own after obtaining the note. Plus I refuse to believe she's as dumb as people make her out to be, after all she was able to discover who Raito was long before L did, and for the most part would have gotten away with it if she wasn't such a damn fangirl and had to force herself on him.

I think she's smart, but was clinging to hope. An understandable event considering her family was killed by a man who was going to get away with it until Kira stepped onto the scene. I think she's sad and lonely and scared and just wants something to believe in after all the terrible things she's seen and experienced in her life.

This Misa I have is going to be that Misa, only a little harder, a little more clearheaded since she's the one who had to re-define her morality and make the decision to change the world as opposed to just following her saviour. This Misa will be a bit stronger since she's having to be her own saviour.

I hope you guys like the change. Or at least not hate it too much.

Oh and.

HHHEEEERRREEESSS LAWLIT!


	10. Chapter 9

over 130 reviews, Jesus christ you guys I don't even know what to say I mean my other highest reviewed fic was 18 reviews God if I could only get you guys to give me some money instead of love then maybe I wouldn't have to get that job at M*Don***'s

Thank you so much to everyone reviewing, you guys are my bread and butter, my constant reminder that this fic exists and is worthwhile, my reason for continuing.

Thanks, arigatou, Shei Shei, Danke Shon, Mercie Beucou and all that good jazz.

Oh and note two: I realize in Chapter 5 I made a mistake saying Raito was going to Oregon in New York, I have the original copy where I changed that but I don't want to give everyone a false upload so maybe later when I get a beta reader and fix everything I'll you know, go back and fix everything. Till then we're all just stuck with it. Muyaaa.

I'm surprised no one got the reference in Chapter five tho...

8*8*8

Chapter 9

8*8*8

L was thinking.

L was often thinking but not often did he focus so hard on one thing at a time. Even being the greatest detective in the world he didn't often care to ponder a single point for longer than a few hours. Cases, mysteries, puzzles all had clues, all had connections, all had something someone forgot that he could pick up and hold triumphantly in the air to say "AH-HAH"

Well he never really did that but mentally he would be very boisterous and cocky about his victories, however he had been informed no one liked a sore winner so he tried to keep those emotions in check.

But this entire case had thrown him for a complete loop. He had suspicions for sure, but he was not so emotional of a detective that he would rely on such trite things as "gut feelings" or "intuition" which were really just instinctive perceptive skills that people ignored the keys for and simply called it some magical ability or sixth sense.

Actual facts? Evidence? A bloody footprint? a dagger in the back?

Nada, nothing, zip, zilch, not a god damn thing.

Only circumstantial connections which could be just as easily explained by the 6 degrees of separation as opposed to any actual connective evidence.

March 12, Man dies of heart attack, known stalker for one Misa Amane.

March 21, Suspected killer of Misa Amane's parents dies of a heart attack.

April 1, ten accused but un-convicted rapists die all of heart attacks.

April 3rd to May 30th, 285 people, 87% men, 76% in or around Asia and 77% of those involving sexual crimes of some fashion all die of heart attacks.

Only common theme? That it all appeared to have started with Misa's attackers, and from there that they seemed to be killings based on female motivation. (Mostly male, mostly sex related.)

But was it Misa?

L clicked his teeth on his fork, scratching it against them as though scraping off tartar.

L knew that whomever was the culprit had to be situated in Japan, in the Kanto region and had to have been living there or in that area and around a TV at exactily 6:00 on April 22nd.

While a large portion of the Kanto region would have been home at that time, he could reasonably exclude salary-men and office ladies from that list as the earliest they ever returned home was 10pm, Granted this left him with Housewives, some teachers and students and any late night or part time workers. However someone like a model, may have a TV in their dressing room, enabling them to see his broadcast at the time as well.

However a teenage fan of Misa would have also been home, or even on the street where the broadcast could have been seen, it was just too many people to even guess, like finding a needle in a stack of a million other needles.

She was connected, he KNEW she was connected, he didn't care that all he had was circumstantial evidence and a gut feeling, there had to be something.

But today? Now he didn't know who to trust.

Yagami-san was detained for questioning shortly after L confirmed the boy Misa met with was indeed his son. That had been a harsh blow to his select Japan unit which was already rocky at best.

His involvement with the case was already a month in and there had been no leads, no clues, absolutely nothing to connect Misa with the case. When it was leaked to the department that he was obtaining visas and permission for the carrying of firearms from the Japanese government for the American FBI, half of his Japanese staff left, insulted to the nines that he questioned their ability to do their job.

He wasn't about to blame them, or chase them down and apologies, he didn't have the time, nor the emotion to care about their delicate feelings. But he did understand considering the pressure the American base had been putting on the Japanese law to give them full jurisdiction over the case as soon as he suspected that "Kira" was on Japanese soil.

He wished politics would just stay the hell out of his game, the world would be so much simpler to run if there wasn't a bunch of big wig political fat-cats trying to prove who had the biggest dick.

But the ones that stayed. He had a few in mind, and even trusted three of them to come with him to America with Watari to follow the Amane entourage.

Shuichi Aizawa, code-name Aihara, a family man but seemed much smarter than he let on. Kanzo Mogi, a very silent and dedicated man, great with evidence filing, L could see him as a Watari to Aizawa's detective. And Touta Matsuda whom L brought along because he was an idiot and amused him greatly.

Yagami-san, who was back in Japan and following via a livecast with the rest of the Japan department, couldn't really give them much on his son. He seemed dejected and ashamed by the questions answering most of them with a shaky "I don't know"

He could vaguely remember something about a school pen-pal system, but didn't know if his son participated or if it was his daughter, and he had absolutely no idea whom they sent mail to. L was more than miffed when Watari's voice came across his speakers to inform him that the school did not keep records of whom the students exchanged addresses with, as it was just a random pool of children across the country that randomly received a postcard, and it was up to them to continue correspondence or not and the addresses were never kept.

Who was this boy? Something about him had rubbed L the wrong way when the met, but he couldn't put his finger on it just yet.

"Aizawa" L said, speaking over his computer. He was still hidden from the police, but they were getting restless with getting faceless direction. He needed to cut their numbers down, select a few, and really get to work. Time for a skill test.

"I want you to follow Yagami-kun for the rest of the time we're here. Mogi, Matsuda I want you on this as well. I might have to contact the local government on this one, but I will leave the monitoring of Yagami-kun entirely up to you three. Can I trust you all on this?"

"Of course!" they all said in unison.

"Good, I'm leaving this entirely up to you, I'll contact you shortly before we leave. Please keep clear notes and any footage you can get until then."

L did not want to get local authorities involved until the last moment when he could slip out before the local authorities tipped off the not-so-local authorities and he had the CIA all up his ass and compromising his evidence. As much as they respected him, they were like overeager dogs who in their excitement to do your bidding, pissed on the carpet. If he even hinted at an American suspect, or even let them know he was here tailing Amane. She'd be either deported back to Japan with a big clue that someone was onto her, or deported to an unknown location and tortured until she was willing to admit that she was Jesus Christ, let along Kira and he would then have a pissed off UN, a completely closed off Japan and still no proof.

L was thinking.

L was always thinking.

8*8*8

"Hyuk Hyuk, Hey Raito, who's that?" Ryuk asked as they were walking home from the bus station near his apartment.

"Hmm?"

"That guy" He said, pointing behind them.

Raito casually stopped and bent down to retie his shoelace and look behind him. The man down the street slowed in his pace and looked up at a street sign as though a little lost. It was still to far for Raito to entirely make out his name (since he still had difficulty reading by sight) so he didn't know, but the man didn't seem familiar from a distance.

"I dunno, looks like a tourist why?" Raito muttered, too tired from his spring semester finals to care for Ryuks jokes.

"Oh, just because he's been following you for like the whole day."

Raito's heart stopped. 'Shit... They know.' The newfound extraordinarily paranoid part of his brain thought suddenly.

Raito got up calmly and continued walking towards his apartment before quickly turning down a side ally out of his stalker sight and stopped to wait for him. His mind was racing.

'Well they probably already know where I live, probably know everything about me, think Raito think, what do they know... What can you do. Maybe it's not a cop, maybe it's just a mugger.'

Raito had to hold back a bit of a hysterical giggle as he realized he was praying to get mugged over getting questioned by the police.

"What are you gonna do Raito?" Ryuk gleefully inquired.

"Dunno..." Raito murmured. What could he do? Find out his name but then what?

Could he kill him to protect himself? He didn't know this person, and besides, Raito had done nothing wrong. But he wasn't naive either, he knew that it was only justice and freedom for all white American Christian English speaking citizens. Of which he had none of those qualities so had no guarantee of his own safety against the government in this post 9/11 world.

"Can I help you?" He called out as the man rounded the corner to come face to face with Raito.

"Ah, Sumimasen!" The stranger said in shock politely bowing a little and kept his head down.

Raito looked at the man in surprise, 'Japanese?'

"Nihonjin?" Raito inquired bowing a little as well but attempting to glance at the mans face.

"Eto, Sorry, Excuse me, oh umm... I umm..." The man finally looked up at Raito.

Raito continued to vapidly stare at him waiting for an explanation and trying to memorize the symbols above his head so he could write them down later if need be 'M...Ma.. Matsu...' he sounded out the name in his head as the stranger stammered.

"Well um you see, I was um not following you, well I mean no, not at all but I um, can't speak English and um you looked Japanese.."

'why is his voice so familiar' Raito thought closing his eyes and concentrating. Breathing deeply focusing on the man it suddenly clicked in his head.

"Matsuda-san? Is that you?" He exclaimed.

"How did..." Matsuda then froze like a deer caught in headlights, he couldn't speak lest give himself away but didn't know what else to do.

"What? How did you know!" He finally just gave in and exclaimed.

"You smell."

Matsuda gave a disgruntled "Excuse me?"

"You always smell like Ume and some particular after shave that I've never smelled on anyone but you. And I remember your voice from when I met you at that police new years party right before I left. What are you doing here?"

Matsuda was shocked. Yagami-okusan (Sachiko Yagami) had bragged that her blind son was even more perceptive than many seeing people when it came to recognizing people but this was freaky.

"I... I..."

"Please don't tell me my father sent you here on your vacation to check on me." Raito sighed, partially in disgust that his family trusted his abilities that little, but also that he had such a connection to the investigation into Misa.

He could work with that.

"I... I uhh.. Yes?" Matsuda tried to go with the easy lie Raito fed him, all the while thinking 'whew, SAFE!'

"I mean.. ano... I was planning on coming here on vacation, and since you were here your father wanted me to just, uhh, say hi. Your mother was worried since uh, you moved."

"Makes sense I guess, since I didn't tell them I moved. Is that why you were following me?"

"Yea, that's why I was following you." Matsuda agreed.

Raito mentally high fived himself over his control of the situation as he invited Matuda to stop creepily stalking him and to come see his apartment.

"EHHHHH SUGEI! This place is HUGE! Ii-naaaa" Matsuda exclaimed as he entered Raito's place. "This is like, three times the size of my apartment."

"This is just the living room and kitchen." Raito explained kicking off his shoes and walking towards his room. "This is my room."

"Oh you ass, that's the same size as my entire apartment." Matsuda spat out dejectedly before he caught himself. "Oh, oh sorry that's rude of me."

"S'okay"

"*Hey Raito, who's with you?*" Ryan called out in English as he came out of his room.

"*Oh this is my Dad's co-worker, he is on vacation and my Dad told him to make sure I am still alive and healthy.*"

"*Oh uhh, Hah jim me mash tay. Wahtahshe wah Ryan Smith Dehsue*"

"Was that Japanese?" Matsuda asked.

"God I hope not but I think it was."

"*Oh, You Japanese, nice. My name is Touta Matsuda*" Matsuda replied with a smile "Nice to meet chu."

"Toyota Mazda?

"To-u-ta"

"Toeta?"

Matsuda looked at Raito "He calls me *Light* so be glad he's that close"

Matsuda just smiled. "*Yes nice, okay*"

"Well you want something to drink?" Raito continued in English although very slowly and with a drinking gesture so Matsuda could follow.

"Yes."

Ryan sat at the table in their kitchen and Matsuda joined him. "Only two? Family No? Big.. ano... Mansion.. My Mansion um.. not big."

"Apartment" Raito corrected.

"Oh this place? Man it's small compared to other places but I guess in Japan it's really super tiny huh?"

"Ryan did you drink everything? I had water in here this morning."

"Sorry dude, you said you'd go shopping before you came home."

"I ran into Matsuda-san on the way here and forgot. I can go now because I must, should he come with me or is it okay if he stay here?"

"Nani?"

"Yea, no prob, I can practice my Japanese since you never speak it, it seems like his English isn't too good."

"No I think it is pretty good. Better then my Dad. I'm surprised."

"N-nani? Fast talk Raito-kun, Hiyai."

"*I need to get food, Ryan-kun ate and drank everything.*"

"You sound weird in Japanese" Ryan inturupted

"*You can stay here if you'd like, I will be very quick*"

"*Ah yes, okay that's fine I don't really need anything, just was here to check up. I really should go.*"

"*Well let me walk you down then*"

"What are you guys saying?"

"Oh, Matsuda will be leaving, he only came to make sure I was alive for my father. I will walk him down."

Ryan srugged and returned to his room with a dejected sigh. Matsuda let out a very similar sigh, glad to be away from all the fast paced English.

"*If my high school English teachers could see me today I don't know if they'd be proud or beat me.*" He muttered causing Raito to laugh.

8*8*8

"YOU IDIOT" Aizawa yelled at Matsuda. "We were supposed to be under cover and you went waltzing right into his house!"

"But he knew me already, he saw me!" Matsuda pleaded back.

"He saw you?" Came the garbled voice of L from the computer who was listening to their reports for that day.

All eyes were on Matsuda then. "Okay, not saw but he like... um... smelled me?"

"He's not a dog." Aizawa snapped.

"How blind is Yagami-kun?" Inquired L

"Completely blind since birth." Said Matsuda as Aizawa and Mogi had just looked at one another and srugged. Yagami-san had barely spoken of the boy except in the passing mention that he had a son, but never spoke of his disability at all.

"His mother spoke to me about it at the New Years party, she said a lot of people are surprised when they realize he is blind since he can still pick people out of a crowd and doesn't even always need braille to read. Even I wasn't sure until his mother told me about it."

"What else do you have?"

"Raito is going to the University of Betalmus* which does specilize in teaching those with special needs. However he dropped out of a few of his classes and enrolled in some community collage classes. He is taking English and Linguistics classes at Betalmus and cooking, social science and literature classes at the community collage. I have heard he also participates with the tennis club at the YMCA." Mogi filled in looking at his notes.

"He Plays?"

"Not sure, he never went this week."

L sighed, and chewed on the skin around his thumbnail. This whole thing was bothering him greatly. A blind boy involved in cooking classes? Tennis clubs? How was that even possible? There had to be something more at work here, maybe his ability had something to do with the killing. Maybe.

He wasn't about to discount anything yet.

"Be prepared for your flight tomorrow, you'll be catching the 7am flight back to Japan, Misa will be on the same one as well. Hopefully the Japan team will have found something in her apartment while we were gone.

8*8*8

*Tap tap tap*

Raito looked up from his book (well honestly from the distant point on the wall he was staring in the direction of since he was reading his university text) and touched his clock next to the sofa.

'2 am?' He thought getting up to check the door 'Who the hell would be visiting at this time of night?'

Grabbing the bat he kept in the closet (because he was paranoid) he called quietly through the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's the police, Open up."

Raito's breath caught again as he cracked open the door and opened his shinigami eyes to confirm his fear.

"Hello Raito-kun."

8*8*8

OOHHHHHH CLIFHANGER

Cus I'm such a jerkface,

Hugs and cookies to all those who can guess who it is. Actually, no I'll give a real present. a guest appearance to whomever is the first to guess who's at the door.

* Not a real university I think.


	11. Chapter 00

I'm sorry, I had to...

8*8*8

Chapter 00

8*8*8

"Hello Raito-kun"

Although Raito could now see his sense of smell was still as sensitive as ever and even before the person's odd looks registered their scent assaulted his nose.

He smelled like a walking bakery.

Whoever was on the other side of the door looked like a drug addict. Almost sickly pale skin with unhealthy looking bags under his eyes and a shock of black hair that looked like it hadn't seen a brush in a few weeks. Raito did a bit of a double take since his nose and eyes were giving him such mixed messages. Normally someone looking like this would stink like a back alley but this man smelled like a cake.

He was also surprised the man was speaking Japanese

"Can I help you?" Raito drawled before everything went black for a moment and pain assaulted his face.

"Oh I'm sorry, I guess you are really blind."

Raito had been looking at the stranger with his shinigami eyes but it never really occurred to him move, duck or flinch when he raised his hand in such a casual manner and with the same grace bopped Raito right in the face.

"What the hell? Who are you? RYAN!"

Raito called out to his sleeping roommate for assistance against his attackers. At least Ryan could call the cops while Raito held the stranger.

"**Ryan, it is unnecessary for you to come out, Raito just doesn't recognize me but I'm a friend of his fathers. Sorry to bother you.**" The strange man called out before turning back to Raito. (Little did either of them realize Ryan slept with earplugs and couldn't hear a thing)

"Who are you? What's going on?" Raito kept pressing, now brandishing his baseball bat in a menacing manner.

"I am L" L said as though that made a difference to Raito.

"And I'm the fucking queen of Scotland, you'd better give me a better reason not to bash your face in." Raito growled, thoroughly pissed off at the intruder.

L scoffed with the self confidence of someone facing a fight with a disadvantaged opponent. "I am working with your father on the Kira investigation, I cannot say any more than that however I need to know your relationship with Misa Amane."

'Ohhhh fuck me he knows.' Raito thought, a part of his brain wondering if he could smash the guys head in now and get away with it as a breaking and entry or if he was wired and had people watching him.

"Come in" He said hesitently, lowering the bat but not putting it down. "Just a second."

Raito led in to the sofa in the living room and went into his own room. Flipping open the Death Note he took a deep breath. A part of his brain simply going "This isn't real, it's okay." the other half fully realizing that he was probably about to kill this man.

**L Lawliet, gets in car crash after leaving suspect in Kira cases apartment.**

tossing the book into a drawer and putting on a robe he came back out. L was obviously snooping through the living room and didn't even have the decency to stop. Raito hated people that assumed they could get away with things because he was blind.

"Are you done stealing things so you can buy more drugs or are you going to give me more of your bullshit before you scurry off?"

L's eyes suddenly glazed over. "No I believe I'm done." He said in a bit of an odd tone turning and leaving.

Raito shivered as Ryuk started to howl with laughter. "Huyk huyk huyk now you're getting interesting Raito huyk huyk huyk."

The next day Raito felt a guilty pang as he heard about an accident killing a mysterious boy and placing a mysterious old man in the ICU, but it seemed so distant he still couldn't believe he had anything to do with it.

8*8*8

:D

I said I was a jerkface.


	12. Chapter 10

MUAHAHAHAHA

Okay I was kidding here's the real one.

I totally was evilly laughing every time I got those "WTFASDFBBQ!1!" responses, I am evil but considering I've been doing this since chapter two, nothing is ever as it seems.

8*8*8

Chapter 10

8*8*8

"Hello Raito-kun"

"Misa? What are you doing here?" Raito asked opening the door to let her in. "Hi um.. Rem?"

Misa was clearly dressed in disguise but Raito could recognize her based on her smell, voice and the obvious "Misa Amane" floating above her head. She was wearing a black wig and glasses with a large black sweater that hung down to her knees, she looked like a wallflower. Rem was hovering behind her and gave a nod to Raito as she floated into the room.

"Misa just wanted to come and say good-bye to Raito-kun before she left. Tomorrow Misa..."

"Can you say 'I' like a normal person, it's a bit weird to listen to you talk like that."

"... I... Am so used to just saying Misa... *I* um... what was Misa saying... *I* Am going back to Japan tomorrow and just wanted to say goodbye, and to see your" She looked around the room leaning in to whisper "shinigami"

"No problem, I needed to talk to you too. And you can go back to saying Misa, it's even weirder to hear you say 'I' like that."

Misa made faces at him as he showed her into his room and pulled out his Death Note.

"Hyuk Hyuk Hi there little girl!" Grinned Ryuk from right in front of her as she grabbed the book. Misa gave an indignant squawk and fell back onto Raito's bed surprised by the proximity of the black Shinigami causing Ryuk to burst into laughter.

"Hey Rem, what's up? I wouldn't think you were the type to drop your note."

Rem srugged. "It's not mine, it's Giles's notebook."

"Oh? Where's Giles?"

"Dead."

Ryuks eyes bugged even further out of his head as he gave a shocked little "oh" and clammed up. Hardly anyone knew how to kill a Shinigami and here was Rem with a dead Giles's notebook? Rem now scared the crap out of Ryuk.

"Raito-kun must be very kind." Misa suddenly said quietly as she paged through the book. "Raito-kun has not written down any names in his note."

"Well when I first got it I couldn't see so I couldn't use the note." Raito interjected.

"Oh right!" Misa exclaimed remembering that Raito had the Shinigami eyes as well.

"And now, well... I just... Don't think I could use it like that. I mean..." Raito ran his hand through his hair trying to think of why he didn't want to use the note. "I realize that the world is a bad place but I don't think that killing is going to make it better. What about forgiveness and mercy?"

"What about them?" Misa said in a bit of a deadpan voice. "The world justice system gives out mercy and forgiveness and even poor justice by not demanding any kind of compensation from all the bad people in the world. How many people leave jail to just go commit more crimes? How many people keep committing crime in jail? How much money do we have to spend on containing those who can never be reformed when we could spend that government money on helping people from needing to do bad things in the first place. I say the punishment should fit the crime and sometimes the best punishment and the safest option for everyone is to have that person not exist anymore."

"But death Misa? Do these people really deserve no chance at redemption?"

"Misa is a buddhist, they will be reincarnated and have their chance at redemption."

"And what about innocent people Misa? How many people are unjustly accused, framed even? And will now have no chance at showing their innocence? How many bad people will still be out there doing bad things never to be caught?"

"Misa... Misa doesn't know. Misa is very careful about who Misa chooses. Misa just wants to do a little good and she HAS done good. The government has increased funding towards crime prevention in hopes of stopping crime to protect criminals, less bad things happen because people are afraid that Kira will see them. It is good and Misa, Misa will be punished for her crimes already." Misa countered quickly as her eyes began to well up with tears.

"Oh oh shit, Misa I'm sorry, I'm not saying you're bad, just that maybe this isn't the best way."

"Misa knows!" She began to quietly sob. "But Misa has to do something. Misa will be punished in the afterlife but maybe." She sniffed "Maybe Misa's children and husband can live in a good world where everyone is happy and Misa will be happy knowing she made this world for them."

Raito awkwardly put an arm around Misa's shaking shoulders and let her cry on him.

"Raito..." Rem's deadpan voice cut in. "Misa is delicate but she knows what she wants and the consequences."

Raito nodded and patted Misa on the back.

"I don't know you very well but you remind me of my little sister Sayu, always rushing to do the right thing and never thinking about herself just what other people need."

"Uhhuh" Misa sniffed.

"You're a good person Misa, so I worry for you. We're connected by this book, this power and I don't want to see you hurt either."

Misa looked at Raito, an odd gleam entering into her eyes as her face went a little red. "Is... Is Raito in Love with Misa?" She gasped covering her red cheeks.

"What I, well...!" Raito sputtered getting up, his own face aflame.

"Oh Misa doesn't know Raito. Misa is very popular and I don't know if I can be tied down just yet."

"LIKE A SISTER!" Exclaimed Raito his face beet red with embarrassment.

Misa started to giggle at him. "Raito reminds me of my little brother too. He was a good boy, he would have been a good man like you too." She said turning sullen again.

"Misa I..." Raito sighed. "I want you to give me your death note."

Suddenly Misa's head snapped up and she glared at him. "Why." She said cooly.

"I've been followed. I'm not sure if it's just a family thing or if it has to do with you but I think whatever investigative force that is tracking Kira is looking at you and those around you. I think it would be safer if you gave me your note and laid low for a while."

"Misa has been followed as well." Rem interjected.

"WHAAT?" Misa spurted.

"I thought it was unimportant, you are well known. Now that Raito has been followed, it may not be a coincidence."

Misa put her head in her hands mumbling that she needed to think.

"I think it would be good if Kira were to just cool down for a while, wait until the investigation team has burned itself out and then pick up again. They're getting too close to you which means that you've made some mistakes. Maybe if you just go back to being Misa and not Kira for a time then they'll realize it was a dead end and leave you alone."

"Misa... thinks... Misa will trust Raito." She decided and pulled her note from her bag.

"I... Can't believe you just carry that around with you."

"If Misa left it in her hotel someone might take it or touch it." Misa said in a 'well Duh' voice that made Raito question his death note's security.

"Anyway, here.." Raito ripped half a page from her note and gave it to her. "If you think someone is really REALLY deserving or it's an emergency you can write really small on that paper, but rip off the name and burn it once you've written it down. And keep that page hidden."

Misa nodded her brows knit in a very serious manner as she folded up the paper into a very very tiny knot and placed it in the bottom of her purse along with all her receipts and other scraps of paper, hiding it in plain sight.

"And unless you are talking to me in code, I don't want you to breath a word of this to anyone, anywhere at any time, not at home, not in a diary, not to Rem, nothing. When you get home make sure you destroy anything that could even remotely connect you to the Kira case."

"Okay!" She said clenching her fist. "Wow I'm getting a little excited now, it's like hide and seek."

"Yea but if they find you, Kira will be exposed and all your ideals will be dragged through the mud."

"Oh right." She said sheepishly. "Anyway Misa has to get going, Misa's publicist is going to have a fit."

"And Raito." Rem stated quietly so Misa wouldn't hear as she started heading for his apartment door. "If Misa dies because she gets caught. I'll write your name in my book. And if you kill her, I'll make sure I'll write the most painful way of death I can imagine."

Raito felt a chill go up his spine at that blunt threat to his life.

"Bai Bai Raito-Kun!" Misa cheerily said bouncing out the door.

"Rem's scary." Ryuk said in a completely deadpan voice while they both waved goodbye from the door.


	13. Chapter 11

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Okay I guess I'm more tricksy than I thought, Chapter 10 or "How low can I go" is ***NOT A REAL CHAPTER*** I've got a few people still writing "Oh no L is dead now what?" That was a Gag chapter, don't worry.

Also...

Rem is already in love with Misa at this point, so she's actually using Raito to protect Misa, hence why she threatened him. Rem doesn't seem the sort to explain her actions so that's why it seemed so sudden and odd. She probably had a great big thought sequence of "How can I use this boy to protect Misa" and then just quickly spat out "She dies, you die" which will really invigorate Raito to keep Misa alive.

Other than that, Thank you everyone for your reviews, I'm probably gonna be a stinker a few more times before this is over but you guys really fuel me to keep writing.

8*8*8

Chapter 11

8*8*8

"TA-DA-I-MA!" Misa called out excitedly to her empty apartment. She was a bit sad there was no one there to yell 'Welcome back' to her but she didn't let it show on her face as she turned to her agent who was carrying her bags.

"Misa is so glad to be home, Misa likes airplane's but not for over 10 hours."

Her agent grunted and lugged the suitcases into her room. "You'll be good?"

"Oh yes yes, thank you very much. Misa will sleep for a week, oh so tired!"

Her agent sniffed and pushed up her glasses looking around the apartment. "I'll call you at 10 tomorrow for a wakeup call to get you back on schedule, I don't want jetlag to be an excuse for your career to dip right now."

Reaching into her pocket and pulling out her blackberry to check the schedule.

"Wednesday you've got two auditions in the morning and a variety TV appearance at 7pm so I'll pick you up in the morning and we can do an afternoon spa after the auditions."

"ooh Misa would like that!"

"Tomorrow once you're up we'll hit the gym, exercise and lots of water is the best way to fight jetlag."

Misa nodded and pushed the agent out the door. "Good Good you sleep I sleep we all sleep and not get jetlag either."

Shutting the door she leaned against the frame with a sigh. It was strange and almost a sickening feeling she had. The entire time she was in America she didn't kill. Away from all news sources and after meeting Raito paranoid about the state of interest in her and her book she had been avoiding it. Fortunately she had pre-written deaths in the book for a few weeks ahead. She wasn't stupid, she didn't want to be caught and she had a busy life. She researched a list of hundreds of sex offenders, killers and generally bad people who had gotten away with their crimes unpunished or in her eyes, not punished enough and in her very limited free time would list them, 3 per day, all heart attacks, but spaced weeks apart. She wanted her message clear. 'I am here, I am real, and I will get you.'

She still had 2 weeks worth in her note before it ran out, but her hands itched and she felt like she needed to do something, she wasn't sleepy and she usually spent these precious moments of freedom writing in the note or planning the others who needed to be written.

Dragging her suitcase over to her bed she threw it on top and began to unpack. Opening her underwear drawer she stopped cold.

"Someone's been here…" She whispered to Rem.

Rem peered over her shoulder at Misa's under garments. Rem knew Misa tended to be a little OCD regarding placement of certain items. Her room looked like a chaotic mess but the girl had organized patterns from the chaos that she knew. Each of her panties was folded in a particular style on the top layer with colour pattens and folding patterns that she followed to a T for no other reason then to prevent the possibility of panty thefts. Having been stalked enough times her apartment was her sanctuary and she was paranoid about letting anyone in and fearful of anyone breaking in.

Touching the top layer of underwear softly she opened her other drawers and looked around the room.

"Everything" She muttered walking around, a bear shifted and picture a few degrees off centre, the 1 yen coin she balanced off her closet to keep it shut moved down a foot.

"Maybe it was an earthquake?" Rem suggested as Misa threw open her closet and looked in her box of treasures.

Opening the box she breathed a sigh of relief. "Mom, Dad, Little brother." She whispered looking at the tiny tombstones kept with their photographs.

Grabbing her cellphone she ran out the door hoping to catch her agent, she couldn't stay here, her castle had been breached, her sanctuary sullied she couldn't trust it anymore.

8*8*8

"What did you do?" L asked calmly looking at the tape of Misa's apartment as she stormed out of the room.

Hideki Ide looked stumped and aghast.

Once Misa's plans to go to a convention in America had been announced L's stand-in Watari had informed the originally 40 man investigation team of their first and only suspect in the case. The teams original idea had been to prevent her from going, but L through his computer (still distancing himself from exposure to the NPR) informed them that by bringing her in, they'd be basically signing their own death warrant, and her's too in case she was innocent. Some of the officers did not take well to that idea and left.

Announcing the plan to search her apartment and leave spy cameras and microphones did not sit well with other members, and these tactics were illegal without getting a warrant. When L reminded them that the chances are this criminal would never face trial in Japan but instead in a world court if ever, most of the team that was still present left.

L did not begrudge them, giving them a speech of how everyones life on this investigative board was at risk, only 10 of the original 40 offered to stay on. L only trusted 5 of them at best, knowing the other 5 were just there for themselves. If this case was solved they'd all be in top level positions for the rest of their lives, but Matsuda, Aizawa, Mogi, Ukita and Yagami he honestly felt they were doing this because it was right, which was a great motivator for work. Ide and the rest while hard workers seemed more inclined towards gaining some glory out of the task.

"We were very careful in checking the apartment." Ide said leaning over the computer so L could see him through the built in camera even though Ide saw nothing but the gothic "L" on the screen.

"We put everything back and the camera's there. It was a light search at best, I don't know how she knew."

L could guess but didn't think Misa had that kind of cunning in her. A girl of her ilk normally wouldn't. Paranoia due to guilt? Stalkers? Something else? L filed away the information for later but his hopes of gaining hard evidence from the camera's and microphones was foiled.

Removing his thumb from his mouth he leaned over and pressed the button to speak to the team.

"Bring her in."

8*8*8

"Cheese, steak seasoning, bounce sheets…" Raito muttered to himself as he rinsed soap out of his hair. 'what else do I need…'

Shopping day was tomorrow and he wanted to get there early so he could get to the gym at 12. The last few days had been hectic dealing with police and Misa and everything in general. He'd forgotten to go shopping after walking Matsuda out three days ago and after a breakfast, lunch and dinner of cup ramen and tap water this morning he knew he really needed to do the grocery shopping before Ryan tried to eat him.

Wiping the water out of his eyes and stepping out of the shower he reached to the towel and nearly screamed.

Rem was standing right between him and his ability to cover up his exposed body. While Ryuk had explained Shinigami's didn't really have genders Rem seemed relatively female to him (maybe he was projecting because of Misa but that's what he thought) having a her, see him, naked he was pretty sure even his toes were blushing.

"Do you mind!" He harshly whispered in an 'I want to scream at you but can't' voice.

"You have to save Misa, she's been captured."

8*8*8

Oh man oh man, how long has it been since my last update?

Now my main excuse is I update after reading a lot of fanfiction, so for ever 10 DN fanfics that I read and really enjoy, I update my own chapter, but all my fave DN writers either haven't updated, or have changed genres.

My second excuse is I've been working on my comics a lot more, and back in school, and doing voice acting, and will be heading back to Japan in ohhh 5 days to which I need to get a job, because I have no money to pay my bills so it's busy busy busy.

Doesn't help that every time I write a plot outline for this story I go and change it. Damn thing has a life of it's own every time I lay my hands to the keyboard.

Oh, and, newfound obsession with Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds doesn't help.

Mmmmm Gubler...


	14. Chapter 12

EDIT: Reloaded everything, minor beta changed (re-read it and fixed some stuff here and there) and TRIED to fix the break lines since keeps being a douchenozzle about them and deletes them from my chapters.

8*8*8

Chapter 12

8*8*8

"RAITO!" Called out his mother jumping up and down waving at him. He resisted the urge to look up and wave. After living a life of sight in America he felt actually blind having to close his Shinigami eyes and stumble around in the dark for his visit back to Japan. But his life truly depended on it.

*8*

"Is there anything you can do to stop her?" Raito muttered to Ryuk as softly as he could having no idea how good a Shinigami's hearing was.

"Nope." Ryuk replied, he seemed just as uncomfortable with Rem as Raito was. Mostly because Ryuk was under the impression Rem had killed Giles and was scared she would take him out next.

"If she writes your name in her book there's nothin' I can do. Well… Wouldn't stop her anyway, she might kill me too." Ryuk whispered back.

Raito ran his hand through his hair, his brain frantically ticking along. He was in America, Misa was in Japan, He had her note, which was at least one good thing, but God only knows what they'd do to get a confession and then what?

"Do you know what they're doing to her? Has she told them anything?" He asked Rem

"She doesn't remember anything." The Shinigami answered dryly.

Raito looked at her with confusion.

"Just before I left she gave up the note and her memories of it."

Raito could vaguely remember one of the notes rules being that if someone gave it up, or lost ownership of it, all their memories regarding it would be gone. In a way it relaxed Raito.

Rem stared at him waiting for something from him to reassure her.

"The soonest I can get back home is early July. I still need to finish up some classes here before I can even think about heading back." He told her flinching as her eyes narrowed into a look of anger.

"Running back now will just look suspicious anyway. If she doesn't remember anything they can't get a confession from her. And without the physical note there is zero evidence for what she's done. Hell even with the note there really is no evidence, it's not against the law to write a persons name down and there's no REAL proof that the note kills people. What jury would believe that?"

Rem still frowned.

"She was not taken by the police by conventional means" She said.

"Who is to say she will get a human trial in a legal court system? Remember if she dies…"

Rem left the threat floating, Raito knew how it finished. He was sure he could fix this, somehow. He just needed a little time.

*8*

"Wow Bro, you've only been gone like 4 months and you're homesick already?" Saya teased him on the drive home.

"It's hard speaking English all the time. Plus it's summer vacation and since I'd saved money by moving out of the dorms I could afford to come back for it."

He could hear his mother frowning from the front seat.

"I wish you would have told us about that before you did it." She said in a bit of a tight voice, clearly over-concerned that Raito could have gotten lost or hurt or anything because he was out of the safety of the campus.

"Don't worry Mom, my roommate Ryan goes to the same University and he'd been really looking out for me."

His sister made an appreciative 'hmmmm' and since he'd heard her listening to voice over CD's of men doing rather inappropriate things to each other on her i-pod he grit his teeth and tried not to smack her. Ryan might have been a good guy, but there was no way Raito would be into him like that. The guy was a bit of a tool.

Saya took the lull in conversation as an opportunity to yawn. Which set off his mother and himself. He wasn't terribly tired. It was only 4:00 in the afternoon in New York but he could tell his Mom and Sister were beat seeing as it was 5:00 in the morning in Tokyo.

"You might be able to say hi to your father before he heads to work" His mother commented trying to make small talk.

"Yea, where is Dad anyway? Isn't it Saturday? What's he doing going to work? And so early? Usually he doesn't leave till like 8 or 9."

"Dad's working on the Kira case" Saya said excitedly. "So he's been working non stop dawn till dusk like every day."

"He's going to put himself in an early grave. He's a department head, he shouldn't be working so hard." His mother interjected her tone a little harsh.

"Oh? Is he going to take any time off while I'm here?" Raito said. He didn't really care, he'd gotten over his Daddy issues a long time ago and frankly didn't like him all that much. But he wanted to try and pick his fathers brain a bit about the case.

When Raito was younger he'd helped his Dad on two cases bring fourth new ideas which had resulted in their resolution. His father had never meant for Raito to have access to the information, and while it was one of the shining moments Raito felt close to his Dad it also pointed out how his Dad barely saw his son as a competent person.

The had only spoken to Raito about the cases so openly was due to some belief that Raito was not just blind, but mentally insufficient to be able to understand what was happening in the cases.

Certainly this had allowed his father to speak to him more candidly then he did anyone else, but it made Raito realize that his father only did that out of disrespect to his son, not some kind of father/son equality.

He intended to use that failing of his father to his own advantage to try and get Misa out of there.

Arriving at the house he heard Saya sleepily comment that Matsuda was there to pick their father up.

"Good Morning Yagami-san! Saya-Chan, Welcome Back Raito-kun." Matsuda called to them getting out of his vehicle. "Did you have a good flight?"

"Yes, thanks Matsuda-san." Raito responded along with the greetings of his Mother and sister. His mother commented she would get Soichiro the car keys so he could drive himself.

"Did you have a good time in America?" Raito asked Matsuda politely listening to his mother go inside.

"You went to America too Matsuda-san?" Sayu interjected as she pulled Raito's suitcase from the car.

"Aa…" Matsuda said awkwardly "Yes, it was good, too short, I barely got over the jetlag and then I was back."

"I'll know how that feels soon enough." Raito commented.

"How long are you staying?" Matsuda inquired, almost simultaneously asking Saya if she wanted help.

"I'm Fine" She called back, wheeling the case inside leaving Raito with the younger detective.

"Just for a week, maybe two. My ticket is open for the rest of the month… Depends on how fast I get sick of being home." He said with a smile.

"Yea, all your friends are still in school right now aren't they Raito-kun?" Matsuda asked and Raito nodded.

"Yes, so I won't have too many people to visit. I assume you're still busy with the Kira case?" He said bluntly looking directly at Matsuda. Raito had 'opened his eyes' to look at the youngest member of his father's team.

Raito had been practicing reading peoples faces more and more during the last month before he left. Peoples expressions tended to be more candid with him since he couldn't see (or so they thought) and Raito was also developing an appreciation for certain facial ascetics. Some of which Matsuda had so he didn't mind staring at him.

Matsuda looked uncomfortable but kept his voice pretty steady.

"Were busy with it. We have a suspect but I don't think it's the right one." He said with a deep frown.

"Oh? Why's that?" Raito said making his voice as warm and calming as he could.

"Well the killings haven't stopped and I…" Matsuda looked angry although his voice stayed fairly monotone. "I don't like how we've been treating the suspect… It's not right."

Raito saw and felt Matsuda jump a little as he reached out and put a hand on his arm.

"Are you okay?" Raito asked stopping and turning his head towards the house causing whatever Matsuda was about to say to die on his lips.

A few seconds after Raito turned his head, the door opened and his father stepped out.

"Man your hearing is good…" Muttered Matsuda causing Raito to laugh a bit.

Raito squeezed Matsuda's elbow a bit, giving him a smile which was only increased when he saw a little pink creep into the detectives face. Raito knew he was flirting with danger with his Dad walking towards them but he figured he should cover all his bases and get as much info about what was happening as possible.

"Maybe we can talk later" Raito said very softly before turning towards his Dad.

"Welcome back Raito. I'm sorry I can't stay…" His father said gruffly giving Raito a clap on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, Matsuda-san was saying how busy you all were. I understand."

"Will you be okay?" His father asked. Causing Raito's eyes to narrow in anger.

"I think I can make it to the door by myself father. I haven't been away so long I've forgotten where the house is from the driveway." He answered icily

He 'closed' his eyes on his father, not caring to see the tightening of the old mans jaw.

_'Well crap just burned that bridge…'_ He thought "We'll see you around Matsuda-san. Have a good day Father."

"Aa… See you Raito-Kun" He heard Matsuda say in a very warm voice before listening to the car doors shut.

_"But maybe there's an even better bridge I can get across…" _Raito thought before turning to the house.

8*8*8

I had a little time this weekend to finish typing this up. Yes this will be a Raito x L but there might be a little Matsuda teasing in there as well just so I can be a jerk.

Summer Vacation will be here soon so hopefully I'll be able to plug at this a little more in that time. Last month was devoted to my Nanomango comic (although I only got 50% of my goal done anyway _) so this month I'll try to dedicate a few hours of my weekend to writing.

Thanks everyone for your reviews and patience and love of the story. Sorry it's so damn slow.


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